Sweet Music


The wind rustled the panda's fur, making him shiver as he stared at the village below. Twinkling lamps shifted in view while the sleepy village returned to dream's domain, and the night sky christened its presence. Po yawned, feeling the weight of sleep in his eyes, and stood up. "Alright. Time to go to bed." His feet walked all the way to the Hall of Heroes where he expected to hear silence.

But he heard something else. A small note, like a string being plucked on the wind. It ended too quickly for him to know what kind of instrument it was. "Hello? Anyone there?" The panda tip-toed into the sacred hall, passing columns of jade and ancient relics. "Okay, I know I heard something in-"

"Po?"

"AHHH!" Po spun around and saw the owner of the voice. Glowing amber eyes glared back at him in the near pitch blackness. "Oh, it's just you, Tigress." He sighed in relief. "What are you doing here? It's late."

"I was... just making sure that... everything in the Jade Palace was... okay," Tigress said. Po rose an eyebrow.

"Are you okay? You look... shaky."

"I'm fine. Why don't you go to sleep, Po? I have some... stuff to clean up," Tigress replied. Po tilted his head but shrugged.

"Okay, don't stay up too late." He was about to leave but stopped, "By the way, did you happen to hear music?"

"NO! No, I didn't hear any music."

"Uhhhh okay. Goodnight, Tigress."

"Goodnight, Po." With that, the panda left and went to sleep.

The sleep was different. It felt deeper, like an ocean kindly pressing him down into dreamland. The next day, yawning and stretching to consciousness, Po stumbled over to the kitchen where he only found Tigress and Crane eating. "Good morning, Po," Tigress said, "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah... really well," Po yawned. "Where are the others?"

"I don't know," Crane sighed, stretching his wings. "They were all getting up last I remember."

"Why are you two so tired?" Tigress asked.

"I don't know," Po groaned as he lazily snatched and gobbled a bowl of freshly made dumplings. "The last thing I remember was...music."

"Really?" Crane perked up a bit, "Me too. Like a sweet melody."

Po scratched his head. "I wonder if-"

"The wind tends to blow some wind chimes down in the village. The noise gets... carried up to the mountain sometimes," Tigress interjected, "Either that or there was some festival that we didn't know about."

"That can't be it," Po said. "There's no festival of... anything going on right now."

Tigress suddenly stood up. "Well, there must have been a birthday or something. Either way, unless it's charming you two to jump off the cliff, I suggest we focus on other matters." And she left without another word. The bird and bear looked at each other.

"What was all that about?" Crane asked. Po shrugged, but the mystery of the music still lingered in his brain.

For a few weeks, things were normal. No one heard any kind of music other than Po's whistling. Nothing changed until Shifu requested Po's assistance while the Furious Five were out. "What is it?" Po asked curiously.

"I need some help with the music room," The red panda said.

"We have a music room?"

"Po, the Jade Palace is the center of art and learning. We have pretty much everything."

"Then... why is it that we don't allow the villagers to come up here?" Po asked. Shifu sighed with a frown.

"Some people can't make it up the stairs."

"Hehehe, good point." The two walked down a hall in the Jade Palace that grew darker. It was further in the back of the Hall of Heroes, and after passing several decorative doors, they came to one carved with musical notes and instruments laid over with gold and silver. As Shifu opened the thick door, a great wind swept through and brushed against lyres, flutes, drums, horns, and chimes, producing an ominous yet musical tone. The round room was covered wall to wall with different instruments. "WHOOAA! This is so awesome! What is this place?"

"This is the music room," Shifu said.

"I've never seen some of these instruments. Where did you get these?"

"They're from all over China and the world. Oogway traveled a lot, and we have a running supply of foreign merchants coming in to buy more... exotic types of music."

"Awwwesome!" Po gently touched one of the lyres that almost immediately broke a string. "Oops. Sorry Shifu, I-"

"That's quite alright, Po," Shifu smiled, touching another lyre that broke a string. "Some of these instruments are old, which is why I need your help discarding them."

"You're going to throw them away! No! No! No! I can fix them!" Shifu rose his eyebrow doubtfully. "I used to work with a carpenter and a musician. How do you think I make the wooden action figures of you guys?"

"Your dolls?"

"No, action figures," Po reiterated. "The point is that I can fix these or even give you guys new ones. Plus, I'm sure the people in the musician village would love to see some of this for new ideas." Shifu stroked his beard for a while and nodded.

"Alright. I'll help you take inventory of what needs repair and you can work with the villagers to fix them."

"Great!" Po exclaimed, "I'll get started!" And like that, the pandas were on their way, checking and fixing some of the instruments. When they were done with about thirty music pieces, Po asked, "Hey, Master Shifu? Does anyone else come in here?"

"Hm? No, why?"

"Nothing, I was just... Crane and I thought we heard music the other night and-"

"Music?"

"Yeah, Tigress said that it came from the village, but I don't think that-"

"Unless there was a large music festival, sound doesn't travel up the mountain that easily. You have to shout just to be heard halfway."

"Really?" Shifu nodded. Po rubbed his chin while his arms rested on a guitar's body. Rummaging around in his brain, he couldn't find the answer to his question, so he asked Shifu, "Then why would Tigress say it was a festival?"

"That I don't know," Shifu replied, and Po thought it was the end of the conversation until Shifu said thoughtfully, "But she does feign a lack of curiosity when she's hiding something." Shifu's thoughts tumbled around. He couldn't snatch his hand away from combing his beard. It was an important question.

"Master?" Shifu looked at the panda and shook his head.

"Nevermind. I'm sure she just didn't want you two worrying about something that wasn't real."

"I guess," Po sighed with a long face. He wasn't satisfied with the answer. "One more thing. That door, why is it so thick?"

"Because it blocks any sound. That's why it doesn't have a lock on it. If someone were to be trapped in here, we wouldn't hear them... which is why there's a duck skeleton on the top shelf."

"WHAT?!" Po spun around.

"I'm kidding, Po," Shifu laughed, "Anyway, that's why the door is made that way... it does stick sometimes." While Po slowly calmed down, he still thought about his master's words. When they were done for the day, Po walked down to the village to help his dad and make the contracts to fix some of the instruments. As the day slowly darkened, Po traveled up the stairs, glancing back at the little lamps in the village going out one by one.

Then, he heard it. Music. Po listened carefully. It wasn't coming from the village. He turned and saw the clouds clearing his view of the Jade Palace, the source of the music. "I knew I wasn't imagining things!" Po rushed up the mountain, panting. "UgH! Stairs!" He caught his breath and slowly crept closer to the Jade Palace. The music grew closer and closer until it suddenly stopped, and Po was stuck in the Hall of Heroes. "Darn it." He raced to the music room and found the door slightly ajar. The hall where the door was had two ways out, but judging by how long it took him to get there, the player was already long gone. "Ugh!"

*******FF*****

The next morning, Po quietly ate his food with the rest of the Furious Five. His eyes absentmindedly glanced at each of his friends, but he didn't say anything. He had an idea as to why the mysterious music player kept disappearing near nighttime, but he didn't know which one was doing it. "I... got to go," He said awkwardly.

"Are you okay, Po?" Tigress asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm just... I have something to do with my dad, and Shifu wants me to go on an errand."

"What does he want you to do?" Tigress asked.

"Uh... just some errand. Anyway I have to go to the woodshop for some... wood. Anyway, I'll be back," Po said. Tigress watched the panda leave the kitchen, glaring suspiciously.

"Is something wrong with Po, Tigress?" Viper asked.

"I don't know," she replied and stood up, "But I intend to find out."

Meanwhile, Po kept mumbling to himself as he made his way down the mountain.

The music last night sounded like it was a guitar and then an erhu, a two-stringed bowed Chinese instrument. "Both of those need hands, which means Viper and Mantis are out," Po muttered. He walked into the village still muttering to himself. "Crane mentioned sleeping better, and I'm pretty sure I saw Monkey sleeping the first time I heard the noise. But both of them have nothing to hide. Crane would have left some feathers, and Monkey isn't the kind of person to hide this. That and I don't think he plays that well."

That's when he stopped cold in his tracks. His mouth dropped with his widened eyes. "That's right! Someone has to know how to play those things. Shifu can play but he wouldn't... wait! ARgh! I can't believe I didn't think of that. I know how to figure this out." He laughed and continued on with his errands, never knowing that a striped cat spied on him from above. Tigress couldn't figure out why Po needed wood and metal strings, but she watched the panda buy and carry them up the stairs. Shifu and Po met in the courtyard and traded the items, unaware of the feline watching them from the corner of the gate. "Here you go. I'll make sure I get the other things tomorrow... without any bandit attack," Po sighed.

"Good work, Po," Shifu commented and left the panda to himself. Tigress came up to Po and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh, hey, Tigress. What's up?"

"Are you okay? You seemed... stressed about something a moment ago."

"Oh! I was just thinking about something."

"About what?"

"Uh... how to make a flute!" Po recovered. "Yeah, Shifu's told me some... weird story about it."

"I see," Tigress replied.

"Well, I should get going. See you later." And Po left. Tigress waved but still wore her frown. Po was hiding something, she just didn't know what.

Two weeks passed. While the night reigned over everyone's house, a lone figure darted through the night on the Jade Palace grounds. It fled to the music room and played to its heart content on the new and improved instruments that Po and Shifu made. But its time was short, and the figure dashed out of the room, closing it, and fled all the way to the barracks. It effortlessly walked down the hall until it met someone waiting for it.

"Hello Tigress," Po smirked with his arms crossed.

"Po! What are you doing up?" Tigress hissed in a whisper.

"Wondering where you were. And where the music came from."

"I told you the villagers-"

"Tigress, stop lying," Po whispered. The creaking floorboards started gnawing at his patience. "Why don't we go outside?" Reclutantly, Tigress nodded. Under the moonlit night, the clear sky showed its twinkling dark canvas of light. Her face bent into a frown while her hands rubbed her crossed arms. The panda stood beside her. "Tigress, what's up? Why didn't you just tell me you were playing?"

"Because... I didn't want anyone to know." Tigress sighed.

"Why? Your music is awesome!"

"That's the problem," Tigress explained. "If I play well, people might want me to start playing in concerts and festivals. I want to... enjoy my talent for myself. I don't want it to be something that people-"

"That Shifu uses?" Po interrupted. Tigress looked up, not saying a word. "Yeah, I figured that was the reason. You didn't want him to push you like he pushed you with Kung fu?"

"I... yes," Tigress sighed. "I play while he's asleep and... usually no one notices." She stared at the ground and hugged herself as the wind whistled around her. "Music helps me... feel. It's one of the ways I can feel everything around me, be more present. Where I feel a little... whole." Po rested his hand on her shoulder.

"It's never enough, though, is it?"

"No... never," Tigress breathed.

"Wait, if that door blocks noise, how do we keep hearing you?" Po asked.

Tigress cleared her throat and recomposed herself. "I... tend to forget some... precautions to ensure I'm not heard and-"

"You forget the door sticks."

"It's hard to know when it's fully closed sometimes," Tigress muttered defensively.

"It's alright," Po grinned, looking up at the night sky. "Do you like the new instruments I help make?"

"I... I do. Though some of them could be tuned a bit more."

"Heheh, I'll make sure to get on that. And hey, don't worry. I'll try and keep my mouth shut about the music. Your playing is amazing, though," Po beamed. Tigress returned her own smile.

"Thanks, Po."

So on nights when the moon is full and the time is right, you can still hear sweet music being played in the wind, rocking the warriors to sleep.

The End